{"id":8631,"date":"2009-10-28T12:36:34","date_gmt":"2009-10-28T18:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=8631"},"modified":"2009-10-28T21:34:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-29T03:34:00","slug":"gop%e2%80%99s-turner-formally-enters-gubernatorial-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/10\/gop%e2%80%99s-turner-formally-enters-gubernatorial-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Turner formally enters gubernatorial race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Turner,

Turner, shown here during today\u2019s formal announcement in Las Cruces. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

The economy, education and ethics were among the primary issues Doug Turner<\/a> spoke about as he formally announced his entrance into the gubernatorial race earlier today in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

Speaking about what is probably the hottest issue in New Mexico days after lawmakers met to address a massive budget shortfall, Turner said the state\u2019s economy is \u201cin a really bad state\u201d and pointed to the possibility of a budget shortfall of $1 billion<\/a> when lawmakers meet again in January.<\/p>\n

Turner said state government is bloated, having more employees than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we ought to get rid of a lot of those folks, whether it be by attrition or other means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Turner said he loves New Mexico, but, as a small businessman, he knows it\u2019s tough to run a business here. Tying the business climate and ethics together, he said he was called by a \u201cfriend in Santa Fe\u201d a few weeks ago and informed that \u201cthe governor had put out a call that I was blacklisted, that my firm was blacklisted — no more state contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner said that is no big deal for his public relations firm, DW Turner<\/a>, because it has only one state contract, but it\u2019s indicative of \u201cthe climate we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for a response.<\/p>\n

Turner took another pointed shot at Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> when he said that ethics is a function of leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we have an honest government in New Mexico when we\u2019ve been on the front page of the New York Times<\/a>, the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, (for) pay to play?\u201d he asked. \u201c\u2026 Generally, I believe that an honest leader will appoint honest people. I believe I am that leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner also talked about education, telling the 10 or so people who trekked to the Do\u00f1a Ana County Republican Party Headquarters before 8 a.m. to meet him that he worked with former Gov. Gary Johnson<\/a> to promote vouchers and currently sits on the board of the New Mexico Charter Schools Association. He said he supports vouchers and also believes charter school funding should be equal to the funding for other public schools.<\/p>\n

Turner said the state should offer more help for homeschooling, perhaps by providing textbooks or making public school extracurricular activities available to children who are homeschooled.<\/p>\n

A busy day<\/h3>\n

Turner is 40. His age was one of the first things he was asked about at today\u2019s event in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look young. That\u2019s great. It\u2019s about time we get rid of some of the old farts in there,\u201d Las Crucen Ram\u00f3n Montijo said. \u201cWe need youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his age, Turner has built up quite a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 as a political consultant over the years. He was state director for Johnson\u2019s first campaign in 1994 and manager of his re-election campaign in 1998. Turner was also deputy political director for Steve Forbes\u2019<\/a> unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

The public relations professional is doing something different today than the other candidates in the primary race did when they announced their candidacies. In addition to Las Cruces, he was scheduled to make five additional stops on today\u2019s announcement tour \u2013 in Roswell, Clovis, Farmington, Taos and Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

By contrast, the three other candidates in the GOP primary race — state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a> of Albuquerque, Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez<\/a> and former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh<\/a> — made their formal announcements only in their hometowns \u2013 Las Cruces for Martinez and Albuquerque for Arnold-Jones and Weh.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who suggests they can run a race from Albuquerque or from Las Cruces\u2026 is kidding themselves,\u201d Turner said in explaining his announcement schedule.<\/p>\n

To be fair, the other candidates have been traveling the state, just not on the day of their formal entry into the race.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have a real opportunity\u2019<\/h3>\n

Turner is trying to make his way through the GOP primary to face likely Democratic nominee Diane Denish<\/a>, the lieutenant governor, next November. Denish has more than $2 million on hand for her campaign. But Turner said she\u2019s not unbeatable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur polling, and every visit we\u2019ve made around the state, indicates that it is possible,\u201d Turner said. \u201c\u2026 There are a lot of young people and others coming into our party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a real opportunity in New Mexico right now to win this race,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n

Update, 1:25 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Josh Geise, executive director of the state Democratic Party, issued this statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish Doug Turner luck as he begins his transformation from a political operative and special interest lobbyist to a candidate for public office.\u00a0However, while Turner may have an impressive track record helping politicians and special interests get ahead, New Mexicans deserve a governor with an impressive record of helping families get ahead.\u00a0New Mexico families need a governor who is prepared to make our state a leader in the 21st\u00a0century economy and, needless to say, that\u2019s not Doug Turner.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: The economy, education and ethics were among the primary issues Republican Doug Turner spoke about as he formally announced his entrance into the gubernatorial race earlier today in Las Cruces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-8631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}